Gardens of the Underworld
by vikky-leigh
Summary: Michele Martinez has a pretty normal life: A Dad, a step mom and step sister, a half sister, a goddess for a mother..Wait, what? A story about friendships, family, and growing up. Set two years after TLO, but disregards TLH.
1. Chapter 1

_**This fic is a birthday present for my little sister Michelle "Shelly" "I'm-not-going-to-put-a-last-name-here"'s twelfth birthday. Happy birthday! This fic takes place about two years post-TLO, but completely disregards the **_**Heroes of Olympus **_**series, so I guess you could say it is AU, but I'm not marking it as such.**_

_**Warning: This is a self-insert character (Or in this case as a little-sister-insert-character) though I don't think she's a Mary-Sue. If you do not approve of self-insert characters, leave now and never come back**_

_**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and situations belong to the all-powerful Rick Riordan. I'm just playing in his sandbox.**_

**Chapter 1**

**In which we are introduced Michelle "Mish" Martinez, and she does some foreshadowing.**

Hi. My name is Michelle Martinez (though my friends call me Mish). And this is the story of how my life began anew, how I discovered who I really am, and learned about life, love…

Okay, rewind. First of all, I discovered nothing about love, other than the fact that you can't always count on it saving the day; and secondly, that is way to dramatic a start for me. I'm not very good at writing. This may have something to do with the fact that I am so dyslexic it's practically a handicap. It also might have something to do with my talents not lying in that area. You see, I am a very visually oriented person. I enjoy art, and picture-taking. My step-sister Vikky says that writing is an art form, but then, she's always been kinda weird like that. To me, words are just words.

I suppose that I should begin by telling you a little bit about myself. I have heard critics say things before along the lines of "starting a story with a description of the main character is bad" (a rough paraphrase) Critics shmitics! As I said before, I don't really believe in words being an art form; and if you start off a story with no descriptions of the main character, than how do you know what to expect from the story?

Anyway, myself. I have long blonde hair; about to my mid-back, which is pretty much my only distinguishing feature. I am very proud of my hair, having been growing it out since I was eight. My eyes are a normal brown, nothing exceptional. I am also five-foot-five, which pretty freakishly tall for a twelve-year-old.

Speaking of being twelve, not for long! Tomorrow is my thirteenth birthday! Vikky says that we'll have to have an awesome bash to celebrate my entering "teen hood". While I'm at it, I suppose I should tell you how I am related to Vikky. I'm not, really: My dad met her mom when I was two, and they got married when she got pregnant with my little half-sister Vanessa. So while Vikky and I aren't actually related, we feel like we are sisters: She took care of me a lot when we were little and Vanessa was in the hospital, and her mom, Amber, is like my mom. I never knew my real mother, she died right after I was born, but I love Amber as though she was my real mother, and Vikky as thought she was my real sister.

I can remember being so happy, so content before my thirteenth birthday. I was playing outside with Vikky and Vanessa; listening to my elder sister describe the clouds to my younger sister, who would never see them. Vanessa, you see, is blind. It's funny how I thought that that was the worst thing that could ever happen to my little family, before my whole world got turned up-side down…..


	2. Chapter 2

_**Here's another chapter, lovelies. This story has rather run away with my imagination, and what was meant o be a short sojourn into the like of Mish as a demigod, has expanded in my head into an epic with plans for a sequel. I hope you enjoy it!**_

_**Disclaimer: No, none of this is mine. All recognizable characters belong to Rick Roidan, and those based off of real people belong to their original owners. I'm just playing with them.**_

**Chapter 2**

**In which Vikky is a swashbuckler, and Mish meets a dragon.**

Okay, so maybe I was being a little overdramatic with that last line there, but really, I have no experience writing things like this. I tried to convince Vikky to do this for me, but she insists that this is my story, and I have to write it.

Vikky is weird like that; she loves words, especially poetry, but she is simply incapable of the wonderful nuances that come with any form of visual creativity. Take a flower, for example. I love flowers, both as individual creations and as what they represent. I couldn't put it into words, any more than Vikky could put it into a drawing. The closest I can come is that they represent life. A whole world put into a tiny seed and...Okay, waxing a little bit poetical there. The point is, I love flowers, and all other mater of growing things. So does my dad, Steven. Vikky says she loves growing things, but what she really means is that she loves looking at them and coming up with poetical ways to describe them. She couldn't care less about planting them, the little tiny seeds in the soil, and watching them grow.

Anyways, I ended the last chapter rather quickly; I suppose I just ran out of things to explain, But we were sitting in our back yard watching the clouds. Rather, Vikky and I were watching the clouds, and Vikky was describing them for Vanessa. Vanessa is ten years old, and was born blind. She has red hair, from Amber, and my dad's blue eyes. Vikky is a little over two years older than me, and had just turned fifteen. Her hair is blond, but darker than mine, and she keeps it cut short. She is also fairly short, reaching only five-foot-three, nearly two inches less than I. She, of course, insists that she is not short, only that I am freakishly tall, which may or may not be true.

Vikky goes to a summer camp. Now, you might not think this worth mentioning, except that she talks about camp _all the time!_ And yet she never really seems to say anything. She goes on and on about different activities that they do, but I have never been quite able to figure out what any of these activities are. Something about archery, and a climbing-wall, and some counselor named Percy Jackson, who she seems to have a crush on, and is always going on about.

"There's one in the middle that's all smooth and soft, just like the way cream feels. Lower down they go all soft and feathery, as though the edges could tickle you…." Fascinating. No, really. Is can be interesting to listen to Vikky explain clouds to someone who has never seen anything, but I was getting bored. ADHD will do that to you. I turned my head to look at the tree-top I could see poking over the fence: It looked as though it could use a little water. Maybe some fertilizer…..

"Girls! Time for dinner!" My mom called us. Vikky stood up first, taking Vanessa by the arm. She led her into the house, leaving me to sit a moment longer. I hadn't slept very well the night before, because of some wacky dreams I had been having, and the cool evening air mixed with the soft aura of the plants surrounding me made me feel rather sleepy. Eventually I stretched and stood up, carefully closing the screen door behind me on the way in.

The screen door opened directly into the kitchen, and I served myself a plate of food keeping hot on the stove before continuing on into the dining room. Vikky and Vanessa were already at the table, along with our parents.

"Happy almost-birthday Mish." My dad said as I entered. "How old are you going to be: 15, 16?"

I rolled my eyes "thirteen, Dad"

"Did you finish reading _Emma _yet" Mom asked. "You don't have to do school tomorrow, of course, but after that I want you to start writing a rough draft for your report" All three of us girls are homeschooled.

"I'll finish it after dinner" I answered.

I went down to the kitchen to get some water. It was late, about eleven o'clock, so I was surprised to find the lights on, and voices coming through the door. I paused and listened: I don't normally eavesdrop, but I thought maybe it might be about my birthday tomorrow, and I have never been good at waiting for surprises.

"…Another one this morning. I don't understand, I'm not that powerful" came a voice I recognized as Vikky's.

"Maybe this is normal." Came Mom's reply. "I mean, you are getting older."

"Or…." My Dad's voice trailed off. "It could be Mish."

"Mish? But she's not one…is she"

"She could be. Her mother-"

I gasped. My mother? But my mother was dead-wasn't she? But my father had never really said that she was dead, only that she could never come back. My thoughts were cut off by the turn of the conversation.

"-Wait. I think I heard something." I heard a scraping sound, like a knife being drawn over stone, a sword being pulled from its sheath. Then footsteps were coming towards me, soft tiptoeing footsteps that I recognized as Vikky's by the way her ankles cracked. Startled, I turned and ran softly back upstairs.

That night I had several crazy dreams, in which Vikky carried a sword, and my father conversed in hushed tones with my mother-my real mother. I never saw her face, only the form of a tall woman with blonde hair.

The next morning I came downstairs, only to find My parents and Vikky waiting for me in the dining room. They looked grave, as though something bad had happened in the night. Still, they wished me a happy birthday and let me eat breakfast before telling me to sit down with them.

"Mish." My father began "I know it is your birthday, but something important has come up-"

I cut him off. "Does it have something to do with my mother? My real mother?" I turned to Amber "No offense mom"

"Yes." Dad answered. "Yes, it does have something to do with your real mother. I can't explain it right now, but it does."

"What do you mean, 'You can't explain it right now?'" I asked.

"Mish." Vikky interrupted "I promise you, everything will be explained once we get to camp."

"Camp!" I exclaimed "What about camp? Do you mean that camp that you've been going to?"

"That." Said Amber, speaking for the first time. "Is exactly what she means. Go upstairs and pack your back-pack with some basics. Stephen will drive you and Vikky there. I promise, everything will be explained."

The car ride was silent and uncomfortable. I had long since given up asking what was going on, since all the answer I could get was,' it will be explained to you when we get there'. We went farther and farther out into the countryside, passing signs that said "Pick your own strawberries" until my Dad suddenly pulled over on the side of the road and said "we're here."

We were parked at the base of a big hill, at the top of which grew a pine tree. Something gold glittered in its branches, and there appeared to be some sort of heavy cabling wrapped around the base. Vikky jumped out of the car, grabbing her backpack.

"This is it?" I queried, scanning for a visitors center, a cabin, something.

"The camp is right over that hill." Vikky answered, pointing at the pine tree. "Come on"

I turned to my dad. "Aren't you coming?"

"I can't." He said "Just go. I promise everything will be explained in a minute."

I was really, really sick of being told everything would be explained later; but I didn't see a choice, so I followed my sister up the hill. As I neared the top, I noticed that the cables around the base of the pine tree were moving, slinking and uncoiling ling a snake. Suddenly they whipped around and stood up, displaying bright eyes, smoking nostrils, and a scaly, snake-like body.

I was staring at a dragon.


	3. Chapter 3

_**AN: So, I'm not actually dead. Just lazy. And dealing with real life things, like traveling.**_

_**Disclaimer: any characters and places you recognize belong to Rick Riodan.**_

**In which Vikky is Bad at Explaining, and Mish Throws her First Teenage Temper Tantrum**

I stared, torn between excitement and abject horror. It wasn't an animatronics; it was too fluid, it's eyes too bright. No, I was staring at a _real, live dragon._ I stepped backwards, and turned to Vikky with an "are you seeing this" expressing on my face, but she wasn't running, screaming, or even staring at the dragon in surprise like I was. Rather, she was watching me with an almost amused expression.

"He won't hurt you" She stated

"That's-that's a dragon!" I cried.

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you" She said. "Don't worry-"

"It will all be explained soon" I finished "I know." But I stared in wonder at the dragon. I was starting to become seriously worried what this "explanation" might be. Was I going crazy? Was I part of a secret organization that knew about the existence of mythical creatures? Was I about to become a part of a hidden magical world like in _Harry Potter_? If I hadn't been standing in front of a real, live dragon, these questions would have been a joke, but I was beginning to think that they might have something in them.

If what I thought was true (The magical world part, not the crazy part) than why hadn't anybody told me about this before? Vikky had evidently known, because she was paying very little attention to the dragon, as thought it was an everyday thing for her. If so, why hadn't she told me? My sister had often been my source of information about adult goings-on, being unobtrusive and therefore good at eavesdropping. If she hadn't told me anything about something as big as this, than whom could I trust? Okay, so maybe that last thought was a little dramatic, but I'm a hormonal teenager, I'm _allowed _to be dramatic.

As I thought all these deep, deep thoughts, I continued to stand there like a deer on the headlights, staring straight at the dragon, which regarded me with an apathetic stare, but made no move to let me pass.

"Let her in, Peleus" Sad Vikky, still looking bemused. "Chiron wants to talk to her."

"Peleus?" I inquired.

"It's his name."

"Oh. Right." Because not only are there dragons, they also have to have weird, unpronounceable names.

"Exactly." She smiled and, grabbing my hand, tugged me around the dragon (!) and down the hill.

A valley opened up before me. At the base of the hill was a long house, with a wraparound porch and a slated roof. Beyond that was a field, then a circle of pavilions. Directly across from her was a gigantic building, all white marble and glittering coulombs in the sunlight. Away into the hillsides to her left stood a shadowy forest, and beyond it all glittered an inlet of the sea. Mish almost forgot about the dragon for a moment as she paused and stared at the entire expanse.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Vikky commented idly, swinging her hand in such a way as to cover the vast expanse. "I stopped and stared just like you are now, the first time I saw it, and It wasn't really as impressive then. Those houses" She waved her hand again, in the direction of the circle. "Were still under construction then. Plus, it was a gray day, with less people."

I hadn't even been looking at the people. Now I turned her full attention to them. They seemed to be mostly teenagers, clad in orange t-shirts. Some were practicing …sword fighting? And they had some sort of protective gear on.

"where are we going?" I asked Vikky.

"To the big house." She responded, pointing towards the lage abode in the foreground. 'I'm taking you to Chiron."

"Chiron?" I questioned. I expected another 'you'll find out soon' but she anwered me.

"Yeah. He's well…a teacher. He pretty much runs the camp, even though technically Mr. D does that. He is going to explain all this to you properly."

"Mr. D.?"

"Chiron."

"Mr. D. is Chiron?'

"No." Vikky huffed. "Mr. D. is the camp director. Chiron is the activities director. _Chiron-" _she stressed this word "is going to explain to you what is going on."

"I see." We walked down the hill in silence for a minute, before I had to ask. "Vikky?"

"Yes?"

"Does this have anything to do with…" I paused, then finished with a whisper "..my Mom?"

Vikky looked at me. Finally she answered "…Yes. It has everything to do with your Mom." Unfortunately, that only raised more questions than it answered. Who was my Mom? Why did Vikky know and I didn't? And most importantly, _why was there a freakin' dragon here!_

Vikky must have seen the questions on my face. "Don't worry." She stated again. "everything will be explained soon."

I was really starting to hate that phrase.

We approached the house from the side, coming up the steps on the near side of the wraparound porch. There was an older man sitting in front of the house in a wheelchair. He smiled at us when he saw us coming.

"Hello Vikky" He said. "I got your IM. So this is Michelle." He looked me up and down with an appraising eye. "Yes." He murmured. "Yes, you were quite right to bring her here. You say it is her thirteenth birthday?" Vikky nodded affirmatively.

He then addressed me directly. "I am Chiron." He said. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

It was my turn to nod. Was somebody finally going to explain all this to me?

"Well." He said "I'm sure then, that Vikky can explain it to you. I'm sorry," He added, now to Vikky, "But I need to teach archery now, and as you are her sister, I thought it might be better that you explain it to her. Unless," Here he paused, smiling, "You would rather ask Mr. D to-?"

"I'll do it." Vikky interjected hastily. She had looked on the verge of protesting before, and I had to wonder just how much she disliked this "Mr. D." "Good luck with your class Sir."

Then the weirdest thing I had seen all day happened (And that includes the dragon) Chiron stood up from his wheelchair. Now that, in itself might be rather odd, but not overly weird. No, the weird thing was, _he had the lower body of a horse._

While I was still staring, speechless, he shot me a smile and then trotted (_trotted) _down the front steps towards the archery range.

"Was-did-did you just see what I just saw?" I stuttered at last.

Her smile was a little grim. "I don't know what exactly you just saw, but If you're referring to the fact that Chiron is a centaur, then yes, I did see it." She paused, and then motioned at the steps. "You might want to sit down, this might take a while."

She started talking about a lot of stuff that didn't really make a lot of sense, about Greek myths and Demigods and something about that guy she had a crush on, Percy Jackson, and somewhere in all there I managed to figure out that however crazy it sounded, she at least believed it.

"So wait," I interrupted her at last "Let me get this all straight. You-" I motioned at her "Are a demigod?"

She nodded. "My father-my real father- is Apollo, God of Archery, the sun, healing, and music."

"Right. And I" Here I pointed at myself "Am also, supposedly, a demigod." She nodded again.

"And this" Here I made a general encompassing hand wave. "Is a camp for demigods called Camp-Half-Blood."

"Yes." She said. "You'll love it here. Just don't go into the woods alone-and stay away from the-" I cut her off.

"And you really believe all this?" I queried. She nodded emphatically. I considered this for a minute. If she had said something like this several hours earlier, I would have laughed in her face. But that was before the dragon-and the centaur. I decided to believe her.

"Then." I said. "I only have one more question."

"What?"

"Why?" I asked narrowing my eyes "Have you been lying to me for the last two years?"

"_What?" _

"You have known you were a demigod for two years. You knew there was a possibility I might be one. But You. Didn't. Say. Anything."

"I-" But I ran off, angry tears in my eyes. Vikky and I had secrets, of course, but to keep something this important from me? Did she think that I was some kind of stupid little kid who couldn't understand? And what about Mom and Dad? They had kept this from me too. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I slowed, but kept walking quickly, going deeper into the forest. In hindsight, maybe I was being a little dramatic. But hey, I had an excuse: I was a hormonal teenager.


	4. Chapter 4

**Umm…I'm sorry? I really meant to get this up earlier. Like…months earlier. But it's up now! So it's all good, right? Umm…Right? Hey, where did everyone go?**

_**Disclaimer: The Percy Jackson series does not belong to me, and I am making no profit off of these characters. Please don't sue!**_

**In Which Mish Kills a Bug, and Vikky Gets Angry**

I walked deeper and deeper into the woods. The branches rustled and moved around me as if they were alive, but I was too angry to notice. How could my _entire family _keep a secret like this from me? Not only Vikky, but my Dad, and my Mom – No, I told myself _Amber. _Not my Mom. My mom was supposedly some kind of god or goddess or something. But still, my "mom" or not, she had lied to me. Did Vanessa know? Had not one, but both of my sisters been keeping things from me, things that could potentially change my life?

As I walked further, I began to lose my hold on my anger. I noticed again that the trees seemed to move around me. I remembered Vikky saying something about Dryads. I wondered if they were like the ones in Narnia, Dancing and laughing, or if Dryads were different in Greek mythology. I knew that the main inspiration of C. S Lewis' work was Roman mythology, which wasn't exactly the same thing….

I was so lost in my train of thought that I failed to notice the rustling in the undergrowth behind me until it was almost too late. As it was, I turned around just in time to see a … giant ant? It certainly _looked_ like an ant, but I can ever recall seeing one that was _2 feet tall _before! Whatever it was, it didn't look happy.

"Nice ant" I murmured, backing up until my back hit a tree. "I'll bet you're a pet here, right? A nice, domesticated pet, like the dragon…" The ant was not convinced. It advanced on me, a single-mindedness in its black, unsettling eyes. It did _not _look domesticated.

The thing was nearly on me now. I half scrambled up the tree I was pressed against. "…Nice ant?" I tried again. It was unimpressed. I was just resigning myself to the messy and frankly, undignified fate of becoming bug food when a whooshing sound was heard, and an arrow bounced off the monster's exoskeleton. An exclamation in Latin followed.

The ant turned and so did I, to see my slightly-estranged step-sister holding a bow. "Of course" she scowled "Of _course_ the things have to be impervious to arrows" It was heading towards her now, with the sudden speed that makes cockroaches so frigging hard to catch. She swung her quiver off her head and held it like a baseball bat, and whacked at the bug like a newspaper at a fly. Unfortunately, it had about the same effect as a newspaper would have. She dropped her quiver in a panic and, and dodged around, sprinting to the other side of the clearing. "Don't just stand there!" she shrieked at me "Do something!"

I ran over to where her quiver had fallen, and pulled out an arrow. "…Here, monster!" I called "…You stupid, big, ugly bug! Come get me!" I held the arrow out rather hesitantly, as if I was offering it as a treat. My words had the desired effect, as the ant left off chasing my sister and came towards me. I was no longer feeling particularly confident of my plan, but I held out the arrow, and as the monster came close to me, I jabbed it in between two of its hard, outer plates. For a moment it just stood stock still, but then it began to twitch, finally crumpling to the ground in front of me, legs tangled up together like a marionette whose strings have been cut. For a moment I just stared at it, the adrenalin rush leaving me shaky, until I was snapped out of my reverie by my sister screaming in my face.

"What part!" She shouted, "What part of 'don't go into the woods alone' was _too friggin' hard to understand!_"

"Um..the part where I was too angry to really be listening to you because I was too angry at you for _lying to me my entire life?"_

She took a step back, still breathing hard. "It was not your entire life." She said slowly

"Because lying to me for two years is just fine, as long as it's not my entire life" I shot back.

"Yes! No! It's not that." She tried to explain. "I was just trying to tell you that lying to you for two years it not as bad as lying to you for your entire life." At this point I tried to interrupt, but she held up her hand. "And for what it's worth _I'm sorry_; Ok? I didn't know you were a demigod. Dad thought you might be, but he wasn't sure. And it does not excuse you recklessly endangering your self!"

"that was kind of stupid of me" I admitted.

"It's ok." She said, "Besides, Guess what?"

"What?"

"You just threw your _first official teenage temper tantrum! _Oh, my baby's growing up!" She squealed in a passable impression of Mom (I don't care who my "real" mother is, Mom will always be Mom)

"Get off me!" I laughed.


End file.
